Tape backup generally involves the periodic copying of data from its usual storage device to a tape device so that, in the event of a failure of the hard disk or other storage medium, the data is not lost. Tape backup can generally be accomplished manually or automatically. However, one risk associated with tape backup involves the security of the data. Encryption of data minimizes the risk that data may be retrieved from a tape device. Generally, the encryption of data from a particular initiator device would be encrypted based on an encryption policy set at the initiator device. For a single computer, this may not be a significant problem. However, for large companies or networks of computers, establishing a data encryption policy at each computer or workstation may be time consuming and cost-prohibitive.